Abarth 1000 Bialbero, a record-setting car, is heading to the auction block

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance also has the Monterey Car Week, which is home to some of the most exquisite vehicle auctions in the world.

And Gooding & Company hopes the utterly wealthy crowds will be there to help them headline the profit roster with the extremely important – for Abarth – 1000 Bialbero. Nicknamed La Principessa, Italian for “the princess, ” this exquisite machine was first seen by the world during the 1960 Turin Motor Show, though arguably the biggest contribution to the automotive world was done on the race circuit. Pininfarina built this incredibly aerodynamic and stylish model for Fiat-Abarth with a clear task – break speed records. It’s known that the car’s shape was honed by the iconic designer in the Turin Polytechnic University’ s wind tunnel.

Thanks to those careful steps, the drag coefficient dropped to just 0.20. And it only used a 1.0-liter four-cylinder with 100 horsepower – though that was enough for the Abarth 1000 Bialbero to deliver nine world records, including driving 72 hours at an average speed of 116 mph and averaging 118.7 mph over 10,000 kilometers. In case you need a reference, some of the best cars today won’t drop the drag coefficient under 0.24. And Gooding & Co’s offer is the first time the model appears in public. La Principessa hasn’t been restored and has all the needed documentation to make sure it really has the racing history. No word on the price yet, but reports are claiming the firm wants more than one million pounds – $1.47 million.